Saltwater maturing

Maturing a saltwater aquarium is a complex and lengthy biological and chemical process that is necessary for the tank to function properly and for us to safely populate it with animals and fish.

The process of maturing an aquarium

The most practised marine aquarists, based on many years of experience, claim that it takes 8 months to achieve a really mature aquarium and a properly functioning marine system. An aquarium is ready to be populated in a few weeks, but is only fully mature after about 8 months.

The maturation process is associated with the settlement of the bacteria necessary for the effective functioning of the underwater ecosystem. The first weeks, or even months, are a period for the formation of colonies of so-called nitrifying bacteria, responsible for the process of decomposing nitrogenous compounds harmful to animals. If it were not for the above-mentioned bacteria, ammonia, which is highly harmful to animals, would appear in the tank.

Rock as the basic building block of the reef

In all saltwater tanks, rock plays a key role in water filtration, which over time is colonised by countless bacteria and microorganisms. The best, albeit very expensive and difficult to access, solution is to plant the aquarium with live rock, which, as the name suggests, is alive to some degree and already has bacteria and microorganisms on it the moment we place it in the aquarium.

If we build the tank using other types of rock, it will take longer to mature and we need to pay special attention to the right sets of nitrifying bacteria, which need to be systematically dosed. It is worth adding that in the case of live rock, that here too, bacteria preparations should be used.

Why is it such a long process

All phases of the aquarium maturation process are of considerable importance. In all saltwater aqiarium, the stability of the parameters and processes involved is of the utmost importance. The seas and oceans cover 71% of the Earth’s surface. These are unimaginably vast resources of seawater which, thanks to their enormous size, maintain constant physical and chemical parameters. Excluding the negative impact of human activity, virtually nothing changes in the oceans, and any fluctuations occur extremely slowly and are stretched over time (tens of thousands of years or more).

By relating the size of the aquarium to the volume of the world’s marine waters, we will realise how problematic and time-consuming it is to create a proper and stable ecosystem that will provide suitable living conditions for our saltwater companions. In the end, the ecosystem created will never be as complex as in the ocean anyway. It is worth realising this and not rushing mother nature. There are ways to get a marine aquarium off to a fast start, but marine aquaristics teaches patience and it is worth doing everything step by step. Where you can speed something up, it is worth doing, but patience is the real key to the success.

The course of maturing an aquarium

First the most primitive but valuable life forms appear, i.e. bacteria and diatoms or algae. The first stage of maturation is turbulent, the parameters are highly unstable.

Once the parameters have normalised, it is possible to populate the tank with less sensitive animals, i.e. soft corals or some LPS, as well as fish, e.g. damselfish or clownfish. An inexperienced aquarist will not risk stocking with hard corals of the SPS type during this period.

If we wanted to summarise what the maturation process is in a few sentences, it would be reasonable to write that it is a process aimed at creating an efficient self-contained biological filtration system. In nature, there are eternal cycles of birth and death. Every dead element of organic nature must be effectively decomposed into simple substances that do not endanger other living organisms. It is all about the self-cleaning of water.

Looking at it from another point of view, a mature tank is one in which there is a balance between food and the ability to consume it. Each of the aquarium’s inhabitants consumes something and excretes something. Each successive organism in the chain plays a subservient role to the previous ones. When there is an excess of nutrients, this results in a sudden increase in the population of undesired simplest organisms. This will very quickly lead to bacteria blooms or cyanobacteria and dinoflagellates, which are harmful in large quantities.

The maturation process is associated with the nitrogen cycle. It is a very important process in any properly functioning water body. The cycle is continuous and the maturation process has an end. When the entire nitrogen cycle finally comes to a close, it can be assumed that the aquarium is mature. The chemical parameters will finally be stable compared to their constant fluctuations and turbulent changes at the beginning of the maturation process. NH3 (ammonia) and NO2 (nitrite) should be essentially zero, NO3 (nitrate) – at 0.2-5.0 mg/l. Without going overboard on the nitrogen cycle, this is the process by which ammonia, nitrites and nitrates will not threaten life in our tank.

Sometimes the maturation process is very exuberant, which is visible for the naked eye: huge amounts of algae overgrow the rocks, the water parameters are highly unstable. This is another moment in which the aquarist learns patience the worst should soon pass. In such a situation, we should not make nervous movements that would introduce additional instability (e.g. releasing animals too quickly, water changes) into an already sensitive and unstable environment.

Mature aquarium (young tank)

After a minimum of a few weeks, the situation should slowly stabilise, the water test results will offer some optimism, the water will become clear, the number of unwanted algae will decrease. This means that our undersea ecosystem has gained stability and the nitrogen cycle has been closed. The number of nitrifying bacteria has increased to an appropriate level and is already taking care of the proper breakdown of unwanted matter. We can slowly start to think about increasing the coral populations, perhaps even tempting ourselves with the first slightly more demanding SPS corals (option for experienced people). However, we do everything with caution and slowly, as the system as a whole is not yet at the highest level of stability.